How a Syracuse mixed martial artist fights on after a near-death experience

Almost three years ago on May 15, 2022, it was a routine night for Shane Manley, a bouncer at Orange Crate Brewing.

A fight broke out at the bar near Syracuse University’s campus, and Manley tried to break it up. In the tussle, a gunshot rings out, and Manley soon collapsed. He didn’t fully realize it at the moment, but he was just shot in the abdomen.

“I was bleeding out on a bar floor,” Manley recalled. “I was just confused about the whole situation because I just heard the gunshot. I didn’t really know what was going on.”

He was soon rushed to nearby Upstate University Hospital and underwent two surgeries.

Prior to the incident, Manley had worked as a bouncer or security at several locations — including the hospital where he was treated for the injury — as well as taught mixed martial arts and coached wrestling for children.

Along with all those jobs, he was an active MMA fighter known as Shane “Super” Manley Before his gunshot injury, he was planning on fighting in a competitive MMA match in the following months.

Throughout Manley’s life, martial arts and competition were his driving passions. He also had competed in jiu-jitsu, boxing, muay thai and wrestling since 2010.

“It gave me the discipline and structure that I needed that maybe I wasn’t getting at home,” he said.

In coaching, Manley sought to provide that same structure and purpose in other people’s lives.

However, the near-fatal injury nearly put a stop to his martial arts career entirely. While in the hospital, he promised himself that he would never walk away from such a central part of his life.

“I was just sitting there looking at people on their deathbed,” he said. “I was saying to myself, ‘That’s not going to be me. I’m going to do whatever I can to get out of here, and I want to get back training. I’m going to do whatever it takes.’ ”

After a week in the hospital, Manley soon made a full recovery and returned to the world of competitive martial arts.

Five months after being shot, he competed and won a gold medal in jiu-jitsu at the 2022 IBJJF Jiu-Jitsu No-Gi Championship. Two months after that, he competed at the IBJJF World Championships – another gold.

Before the injury, he had been coaching a small jiu-jitsu club – “Supermanley Jiu Jitsu” – since 2015. After the incident, he decided to take that to the next level.

Exactly one year later on May 15, 2023, he opened his very own gym, Bulletproof Jiu Jitsu & Combat.

“Now I have my own space and it’s more mainstream,” Manley said.

At Bulletproof, he continues to teach his students about the value of persistence and pushing through obstacles.

Crediting martial arts for motivating him through that traumatic experience years ago, Manley says that his fighting spirit still keeps him going to this day.

“Working out and training,” he said, “I couldn’t see myself doing anything other than that, to be honest.”